The politician endorsed by Donald Trump for Florida governor is facing questions over his longtime aide—an accused sex offender who has made racial comments about pedophilia.
Byron Donalds, a three-term Republican congressman, was endorsed by Trump for the Florida gubernatorial race in February, making him a strong contender for a contest that does not take place until next year.
But the Daily Beast has learned that there is concern in Republican circles about Donalds’ long relationship with Larry Wilcoxson, who was been described as his “right-hand man” for more than a decade—and about the lack of vetting of Donalds’ candidacy in its entirety.
Donalds has been a prominent TV voice for Trump, jetted around the country to rally support for Trump last year and was, at one point, rumored as a potential pick for vice president. His loyalty was rewarded with an early endorsement for Florida governor, which two Republican sources told the Beast appeared to come without the level of vetting that such a high-profile race demands.
Donalds has used Trump’s endorsement to barnstorm the state and, crucially, raise over $22 million for a notoriously expensive race. He has capitalized on his MAGA media profile as a Trump ultra-loyalist and on his potential to make history: if victorious, he would be the first Black governor of Florida and the first Black Republican governor since the Reconstruction era.
“The president did not properly vet him,” a prominent Trump supporter said of Donalds, specifically noting his close relationship with Wilcoxson.
For almost all of his political career—until now—Donalds has had Wilcoxson at his side. The pair, both 46, have posed for many photos together, including one with Trump, since 2013, and have celebrated Thanksgiving together. The relationship has been lucrative for Wilcoxson. Records show Donaldson has paid Wilcoxson—who called the congressman a “brother away from home”—over $300,000 in reimbursements and for consulting services since 2021.
In response to a request for comment, Donald’s campaign told the Beast that Wilcoxson will not be a paid consultant for his gubernatorial race, which is a break from his role in his two most recent races.
But it is the fact that Wilcoxson was charged with molesting a child—while working as a substitute teacher in Indianapolis, Indiana—and how he responded that is causing concern about how much vetting Donalds has been through. Molestation charges against Wilcoxson were dropped in 2007, a year after his arrest. Wilcoxson previously said that Black men did not commit such crimes, saying, “with white men, it’s bombs, it’s serial killers, it’s child molestation.” He told the Daily Beast on Wednesday that he “never harmed anyone.”
For 15 years, we have consistently demonstrated our unwavering commitment to the political sphere, and 2012 was no exception.
#tbt2012
Posted by Larry Wilcoxson on Thursday, July 25, 2024
Wilcoxson confirmed he will no longer consult for Donalds, saying that he has chosen to focus on things other than politics. He said he will still vote for Donalds if he is the “conservative candidate” in the general election, but he did not commit to whether he will actively campaign for the congressman. He also declined to elaborate on how close he and his one-time boss are today.
A Republican insider described Wilcoxson as a “rabble rouser” to the Beast, and a Republican official from southwest Florida, where Wilcoxson lives, told the non-profit news site the Florida Trident that the consultant “resorts to threats of violence almost instantaneously.”
Those concerned that Trump’s endorsement came too early pointed to Donalds’ choice to pay Wilcoxson campaign cash and to hire him as a “senior adviser” in Washington. They said these decisions raised questions about the congressman’s judgment.
“[Donalds] answers to industry and is happy to just, kind of like, use his campaign funds and his budget to give money to his buddies,” an insider said.
God, protect Byron like you did Daniel in the lion den. Father, walk with him through the DC furnace like you did with…
Posted by Larry Wilcoxson on Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Wilcoxson’s own record would certainly raise eyebrows for anyone vetting Donalds. Among the incidents in which Wilcoxson has been involved are:
- In 2006, while working as a substitute teacher in Indianapolis, Indiana, he was alleged to have given a teenage girl a “nude photo of himself,” which police said she then showed to some classmates. The child reportedly told police that she had a crush on Wilcoxson, and authorities alleged that he molested her in his car near school. Wilcoxson was held on a bond of $100,000. A year later, the case was dropped for unstated reasons. Wilcoxson told the Beast that he would never touch a child.
- Also in 2006, the Indianapolis Star reported that he was dismissed as a substitute teacher for allegedly exposing himself to a custodian. Wilcoxson also denied this ever happened.
- In 2013, he was fired as a Hertz rental clerk at an airport in Naples, Florida, and then convicted of driving a car for months without permission. Cops found the purportedly missing vehicle in his driveway and arrested him, despite his pleas that he was legally renting the car. He was sentenced to six months in prison for grand theft auto. However, that conviction was vacated in 2022 after it was discovered that Hertz had systematically submitted incorrect reports of stolen vehicles nationwide. Wilcoxson told the Daily Beast he’s never “stolen anything.”
- In 2022, he was captured on camera lunging at a former Florida school board member’s husband during a Republican Executive Committee meeting. Video from the incident, described as “disturbing” by local news, showed a deputy holding back Wilcoxson—who told the Beast he is 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds—to prevent a fight among the fellow Republicans. No charges stemmed from the incident.
- In 2023, his then-fiancée Melissa Kamin filed an injunction for protection against him. She alleged that she was “picked up, thrown on the kitchen counter, and held against [her] will” by Wilcoxson. She also alleged that, after she fled, he found her more than 100 miles away, “broke into” her car, and scattered her belongings on the street. A temporary restraining order was put in place but was later removed. Wilcoxson told the Daily Beast his ex’s allegations were not factual, but he declined to elaborate, saying he was “not hashing this out again.”
- He was charged with battery in 2003, for allegedly striking someone with a stick in a street fight, and again in 2013, for allegedly attacking a car detailer. He was not convicted in either case.
Privately, Florida Republicans have been particularly concerned about Wilcoxson’s extraordinary defense of himself in 2023 to the Florida Trident, having acknowledged that the 2006 allegations involved multiple victims.
“I’m not gonna open up that can of worms,” he told the Trident, which asked if he was calling his accusers liars. “The law has spoken. It took me to a dark place. In my America, in your America, only a Black man will be guilty and will always be guilty.”
He added, “I was having a menage à trois with three women at once, and I had the video footage. I said [to police], ‘Did you see any little girls in there? I’m a real-life pimp. I’m a lady’s man.’ They went through all my sexual tapes, all of them. They looked on my computer. I said, ‘Did you see me looking at porn with kids?’ I don’t do that. That’s what white men do. As a criminologist, look at the statistics. With Black men, it’s homicide, it’s robbery … with white men, it’s bombs, it’s serial killers, it’s child molestation.”
Wilcoxson told the Beast that he felt the Trident’s reporter had asked him a leading question, so he responded with sarcasm about being a pimp, which he says he is not and never was. He noted that he holds a master’s degree in criminology, and he stood behind his remark that white men are more likely to abuse children sexually.
“That’s not things that you see Black men do,” he told the Beast.
Donalds could have distanced himself from Wilcoxson after the 2022 school board incident, at which the congressman was present; the melee was reportedly related to a lawsuit filed against his wife, Erika.
“It should not have happened, and I told him it will not happen again,” Donalds said after the chaos, according to Florida Politics. Since that incident, Wilcoxson remained a consultant for Donalds. His most recent payment was for $8,227.51 in March.
The Donalds campaign told the Beast in a statement, “Larry doesn’t work for the gubernatorial campaign and this is nothing more than a desperate attack from the radical left.”
There are also questions swirling about the viability of Donalds himself. His loyalty to MAGA is unquestioned, with the watchdog GovTrack listing him as the second-most “politically right” lawmaker in the House. However, insiders say he is bringing his own “baggage” to the governor’s race.
Donalds is a native of Brooklyn, New York, but he moved south to attend Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. He was arrested in 1997, when he was 18, for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, The Washington Post reported last year. He later transferred to Florida State University, where, as a student, he was convicted of bribery and he also pleaded no contest to a felony theft charge. Records in those cases have since been expunged.
Donalds has chalked up the instances to youthful mistakes, crediting his conversion to Christianity as putting him on the right path. Among the criticisms levied against him now are the 89 votes he missed in the last Congress—a trend that continued into this year, with him controversially voting by proxy so he was able to be in California to film an interview with Bill Maher.
Trump’s early endorsement of Donalds was a surprise to many, given that the other likely Republican primary candidate is Casey DeSantis, the wife of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Donalds trailed Florida’s first lady by three points in a GOP voter poll that was released last week by the University of North Florida. However, most polls show Donalds as the front-runner in a hypothetical matchup, and he is universally favored in polls that specifically survey Republicans who voted in the state’s 2022 gubernatorial primary.
Gov. DeSantis took a dig at the lawmaker over his missed votes after he announced his gubernatorial bid.
“We have such a narrow majority that to be trying to campaign other places and missing these votes, I think, is not something that’s advisable at all,” he said in a news conference.
“I think that people would forgive Byron for stuff that he did in college,” a GOP insider told the Beast. “But you know, looking at what’s going on with him now, I think that Casey would have kind of a head-to-head advantage, especially on camera.”
The post MAGA Star’s Top Aide Launched Racial Rant About ‘Child Molesters’ appeared first on The Daily Beast.
